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Quick Facts
Best Known For
Les Paul was a musician who designed a solid-body guitar in 1941, which then was a new type of instrument.
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Les Paul - Electric Guitar (1:31)
Les Paul - Electric Guitar
Les Paul explains the process he went through to invent the electric guitar.
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Play NowLes Paul. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 07:33, May 21, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/les-paul-9435046.
Les Paul. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/les-paul-9435046 [Accessed 21 May 2013].
"Les Paul." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 21 2013, 07:33 http://www.biography.com/people/les-paul-9435046.
"Les Paul," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/les-paul-9435046 [accessed May 21, 2013].
"Les Paul," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/les-paul-9435046 (accessed May 21, 2013).
Les Paul [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 21] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/les-paul-9435046.
Les Paul, http://www.biography.com/people/les-paul-9435046 (last visited May 21, 2013).
Les Paul. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/les-paul-9435046. Accessed May 21, 2013.
His breakthrough came in 1948 with a recording of the song "Lover," which utilized a variety of tracks. It wasn't long before Paul was creating 24-track recordings and producing hits like "How High the Moon" and "The World Is Waiting for Sunrise."
Star Status
After divorcing his first wife, Virginia Webb, Paul met the former Colleen Summers, a singer who'd toured with Gene Autry's band. Paul changed her name to Mary Ford and began recording with her. They married in 1949, and for much of the 1950s the two had their own television show, "Les Paul and Mary Ford at Home."
In addition the couple had more than three dozen hits together, all of them utilizing the recording techniques Paul had created in his studio.
In his later years, Paul's standing and legend in the music industry only increased. His final recorded album, "American Made, World Played," debuted in 2005 and featured, among others, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, Sting and Eric Clapton. The record also netted Paul two Grammy Awards.
Paul died from complications associated with pneumonia on August 13, 2009.
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